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U.S., Iran Trade Threats Over Strait of Hormuz; Israel Orders Expanded Strikes in Southern Lebanon; Tomorrow ICE Agents Deploying to Airports under Border Czar; Guthrie Family Asks For Renewed Attention In Search For Missing Mom; Trump: ICE Agents Deploying To Airports Tomorrow To Help TSA; Bipartisan Outrage After Trump Celebrating Mueller's Death. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 22, 2026 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[14:00:28]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

An ultimatum from President Trump to Iran: Open the Strait of Hormuz or your power plants will be attacked. Iran says it's prepared to fight back.

And with security lines growing and TSA stretched thin in this country, President Trump says immigration officers will step in to help on Monday. We'll hear from border czar, Tom Homan about the role that they could soon play inside airports.

Plus, another urgent plea from the family of Nancy Guthrie. We'll tell you what Savannah Guthrie and her siblings are asking of the community with the search now in its seventh week.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Tomorrow is setting up to be a consequential day as Trump issues an ultimatum to Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, and declares ICE will begin bolstering security at U.S. airports.

Let's begin with Iran. In a social media post, President Trump warned Iran if it doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, the U.S. will hit and obliterate its power plants. Iran's armed forces responded, saying Hormuz will be completely closed if Trump strikes its power plants. It also vowed to retaliate by attacking infrastructure and energy sites in the Gulf region.

Meantime, dozens of people were injured in missile strikes in southern Israel overnight. Iranian missiles struck the Israeli cities of Dimona near a key nuclear site, and Arad which resulted in the highest number of people injured in a single attack in Israel since the start of the war.

We've got a team of correspondents covering these developments. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Beirut, Lebanon.

Let's begin with Matthew Chance in Doha, Qatar.

Matthew, President Trump's deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is less than 30 hours away. Bring us up to speed on where things stand.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, I mean, what we've heard from the Iranians is very defiant rhetoric in response to that ultimatum by President Trump, which gave -- who gave Iran 48 hours to open up the Strait of Hormuz, which is that incredibly important strategic energy transport route -- a sort of chokehold in the middle of the Persian Gulf, which is essentially controlled by Iran. Open that up to oil tankers and gas tankers and to alleviate all the pressure on the global energy markets.

The Iranians, Fredricka, have basically dismissed that ultimatum, dismissed that threat. But they have said that if it happens and if Trump, President Trump does attack Iranian power plants, which are, of course, essential for maintaining, you know, electricity and life and things like that inside Iran, they will strike back hard and they'll strike back in the region.

I'm talking to you tonight from Doha in Qatar, which is one of the countries which -- in the region, which is heavily dependent on oil and gas, like Saudi Arabia, like Kuwait, like Bahrain, like those other states.

They've all got U.S. military installations on their territory. They're all highly-dependent, like the UAE as well, on oil and gas revenue.

And they're incredibly anxious. All of those Gulf states, those Arab states, incredibly anxious at the possibility of being targeted even further by Iranian missile and drone strikes.

Most of those countries, including Qatar, have already suffered the consequences of being targeted and attacked by Iranian drone and missile strikes. It's been a big economic impact, first of all.

I mean, oil and revenue -- oil and gas revenue in these places, they counted in the billions of dollars a day. And that in some cases had dropped off to virtually zero because of this Iran war, because of the closure of the Persian Gulf and because of the, you know, the other sort of attacks on sort of regional infrastructure.

[14:04:50]

CHANCE: If that increases, the financial losses are going to be even greater. But there's a political, a sort of diplomatic loss as well, because countries like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, they've spent decades trying to cast themselves as safe havens, as tourist destinations, as financial hubs.

And that image, which is already dented if there's a further escalation in this war, could be shattered altogether. And that's really driving concern out here in the Arab Gulf states, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right. Matthew Chance, thank you so much in Doha.

Let's go to Beirut now and Nick Paton Walsh is there. What is the latest there with several Iranian missiles hitting cities in Israel overnight?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes. I mean, that's obviously a separate chapter. The Iranian missiles, which penetrated it seems Israel's defenses causing dozens of injuries, hitting the nuclear research facility of Dimona and also Arad. Potentially Dimona a response to Israeli attacks on the Iranian nuclear facility of Natanz.

Separate to that, though, is Israel's attacks, its onslaught against the Iranian proxy militia, Hezbollah here, inside of Lebanon. Now, that took a particularly aggressive turn today where Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, echoed what a military spokesperson had said on social media, basically saying that all of the key bridges that link southern Lebanon below the Litani River, a key mark across the south of the country that Israel has pretty much since the start of this separate conflict, begun by Hezbollah seeking to avenge the death of Iran's late supreme leader, said that that area needed to be forcibly evacuated.

Today we had an ugly turn in that in which Israel issued repeat warnings for a specific bridge -- confusion at the time we were nearby -- to exactly which bridge they meant. But they eventually struck a key artery that is vital for civilians, Hezbollah clearly as well, to get from the south to basically food, shelter supplies in the north here.

Let me just play you a video of that remarkable strike here.

You can see the devastating damage there, two separate blasts. It appears, according to some local reports, that a second strike hit the same area too. But at that time, there was widespread chaos really, because it wasn't clear exactly which bridge was being hit.

The Lebanese military, they had a checkpoint literally right there where you see the bomb land, and they clearly heeded the warning, moved back towards the north.

I indeed saw them pull away from another bridge not far away from there too, in the hour or so afterwards.

But the fear here echoed by Lebanon's President Aoun here, Joseph Aoun, is that this is potentially a precursor to a ground invasion by Israel. It's something which they have suggested is a strong possibility. They appear to be amassing forces for that.

Perhaps it's leverage to try and achieve the task of disarming Hezbollah, which Lebanon's government says it wants to achieve, indeed as well.

But there is an enormous impact on the civilians left in southern Lebanon, a million displaced here in Lebanon. When you start hitting bridges like that that are vital to get food, to get people out, to get medicine in, and you essentially threaten every other potential crossing along the waterways there, the impact is ultimately felt on the civilians caught in this.

Although Israel says it's trying to degrade Hezbollah, it was clear from what we saw there, many people fleeing, thinking it was their last chance, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much in Beirut. We'll check back with you.

All right. Let's discuss further now with Arman Mahmoudian. He's a research fellow at the University of South Florida's Global and National Security Institute.

Arman, great to see you. So let's start with Iran saying its ready to close the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely if President Trump attacks the country's power plants. We're seeing how the Iranian regime is responding to ultimatums.

Is the Trump administration making the right calculus here, or do you also put stock in Iran's threat?

ARMAN MAHMOUDIAN, RESEARCH FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA GLOBAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTE: Well, first, thank you for inviting me.

And second, regarding your question, which I think is the most important question that U.S. foreign policy makers are facing.

I believe the Iranian are meaning what they are saying. And there's a reason behind of that. Look, basically President Trump's ultimatum is asking Iranian to give up their main pressure point in this war. If they gave up the control of the semi striction that they impose upon the Strait of Hormuz, Iran basically would forego its main leverage in this war.

[14:09:46]

MAHMOUDIAN: So then the content (ph), the question for the Iranian would be in absence of such leverage, how we can inflict pain directly over the United States because they're shutting down the Strait of Hormuz is doing so by influencing the energy market, and how we can pressure the world, or at least in a post-war era, we can go into the negotiation to take somewhat of a concession.

Basically, Iranian are looking at the Strait of Hormuz for leverage during the war time and also leverage once the war is over and political settlement and negotiation over it has begun.

WHITFIELD: I understand you, and essentially acquiescing by opening the Strait of Hormuz, it would mean like surrendering. And I hear you loud and clear. You're saying Iran is not going to do that.

So I also want to ask you, you know, about Iran targeting a key U.S. and U.K. base in the Indian Ocean with two long-range ballistic missiles. This base is thousands of miles away from Iran. Neither of the missiles hit their intended target. But, you know, there -- it was a target. It was, you know, in the crosshairs.

What do you make of that? What's going on with Iran's strategy to do this?

MAHMOUDIAN: I think Iranian made a gamble because on one hand, what happened was, in contrast to what Tehran was claiming for the last two decades, a claim that they have no desire to develop a long-range missile program. But the attack on the islands in the Indian Ocean proved against of it.

But on the other hand, Iranian, I think, has tried to send a message to the West and the United States that if the crisis continues and if the existential threat grows to the regime, the regime finds itself in a position of may -- being about losing it all, Iran has more tools in its toolbox spawn to escalate the situation.

However, I would like to also, you know, you know, take a note that we are still cannot say that to what extent these attacks on those islands are actually an indicator of Iran having a solid or effective long-range missile program. There's a chance that the Iranian has used their traditional missile program to just customize the warhead, made it a smaller or lighter to make the missile able to fly for a longer range.

Or the Iranian may have tried to appeal to their outer space program, which was de facto a way of them -- for them to develop long range missile program to get there.

We have to still wait and see to kind of examine Iran's capability and engineering capability when it comes to actually developing a long- range missile. But in terms of political signaling, I think the signal that Tehran has sent to the Washington is loud and clear that we may be able to reach to your interests beyond the current zone of the conflict.

WHITFIELD: Did the U.S. underestimate Iran?

MAHMOUDIAN: I think the United States didn't necessarily underestimate Iranian military capability. But what they overestimated was the effect of their actions on removal of the high command of the Iranian, you know, leadership during the first hours of war.

I think the United States had a generally -- had a general good idea of the Iranian military capacity and the limitation of it. I think technically they were not really surprised of the attacks on the islands, because Iran has been trying to launch missiles into orbit, which is a way of actually developing the long-range missile.

I think what U.S. overestimate it was to what the effect that they anticipated and hoped of removing Ayatollah Khamenei and senior high commanders in the first days of the war.

I think the understanding was that once it takes place, once the highest echelon of leadership been removed, Iran would collapse. They wouldn't be able to pursue their retaliatory campaign, and the regime would be paralyzed in terms of decision-making mechanism very quickly.

I think that's the mistake that the United States did, rather than assessing the Iranian actual military capability.

WHITFIELD: Arman Mahmoudian, thank you so much. Really insightful. Appreciate it.

MAHMOUDIAN: Thanks for inviting me.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, our other top story. President Trump ordering ICE agents to U.S. airports to help short-staffed TSA agents as the partial U.S. government shutdown enters its sixth week.

Plus a desperate new plea from Savannah Guthrie to find her missing mother.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow, ICE agents will be deployed to airports across the U.S. President Trump says he ordered the move to help TSA agents who are short-staffed and going unpaid during the partial U.S. government shutdown. That budget standoff over DHS' immigration enforcement tactics is now in its sixth week.

White House border czar Tom Homan is now in charge of the airport deployment, telling CNN ICE agents will free up TSA officers from non- significant roles.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted the plan earlier today.

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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: It's unfortunate that Republicans have decided that they would rather force TSA agents to work without pay, inconvenience millions of Americans all across the country.

[14:19:44]

JEFFRIES: And now potentially expose them to untrained ICE agents and create chaos at airports throughout the land rather than get ICE agents under control.

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WHITFIELD: CNN is following all these developments. Our Julia Benbrook is in Florida, where the president is spending the weekend. Rafael Romo is at Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta. And Gloria Pazmino is at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey.

All right. Julia, let's begin with you. What are you learning about what this deployment will actually look like? JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, even though President Donald

Trump has announced that this is going to take place tomorrow, there are still a lot of questions when it comes to the details. And the administration is making it clear that this is still a work in progress.

While Trump took to social media Truth Social yesterday, saying that if an agreement isn't reached to fund the Department of Homeland Security, that he will be deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports to, quote, "do security like no one has seen before".

Since then, he has announced that white House border czar Tom Homan will be in charge of those efforts. Well Homan, he spoke with CNN's Dana Bash earlier today. And yes, he did confirm that those agents would be deployed starting tomorrow.

But when it came to details, he said that those discussions are still ongoing. He's hoping that they will have a plan today so that it is ready to execute tomorrow.

And I guess I shouldn't say hope. He says that that will be happening. Now when it comes to the concerns here, a lot of people were questioning exactly what these ICE agents are going to be doing, since they are not trained in airport security screening.

Homan did say that they would be working in less significant roles, and that the goal here is to ease the workload for these TSA agents who have been working without pay for weeks now.

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TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: This is about going -- helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quickly as they can while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols.

We're simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don't need their specialized expertise, such as, you know, screening through the X-ray machine. We're not trained in that, we won't do that.

But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non- significant role, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker.

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BENBROOK: He did acknowledge that there's still a lot up in the air, including how they would deploy, how many agents would deploy, and where exactly they would be working. On that piece, the location part of it, he said that it's his opinion that they should prioritize some of the large airports with long wait times. He used three hours as an example.

Homan was on Capitol Hill on Friday, speaking with a bipartisan group of lawmakers trying to come to an agreement to end this lapse in funding. There's still no clear solution there right now, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook, thanks so much.

Let's go to Rafael at Atlanta's Airport. Hello, Rafael. You spoke with officials about what many of these TSA agents are dealing with. Are they also receptive to the idea of ICE agents coming to help?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. Well I -- more specifically, I spoke with a union steward that represents the screeners, the TSA screeners here in Atlanta. And just look at the lines behind me. This is what they've been dealing with.

And what the union steward tells me is that the screeners are still reeling from the last shutdown in the fall. Many of them, he told me, have not recovered from the -- from the financial blow. And then this happens.

Now, I also wanted to show you this area because this is the main checkpoint here in Atlanta.

And to complicate things even further, just a few moments ago, imagine this, Fred. We had a medical emergency. A lady -- there's somebody trying to, the trash has to go by -- somebody had a medical emergency. Somebody passed out. The paramedics had to come by, pick that person. Take her to a hospital.

And so this is what we've been seeing. Now, I asked that union official whether he has a message for passengers, given the chaotic circumstances here at the airport. And this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BOREK, UNION STEWARD, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 554: Myself as a -- as an officer here, I apologize to every one of these people here because they should not be going through what they're going through.

And secondly, our officers now should be not going through the same thing because, again, we're important. We're an important part of the, you know, the world economy. You know, what makes these, you know, the airport run and all that.

But why should we put -- be put under a policy dispute amongst the people in Washington?

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[14:24:46]

ROMO: And Fred, one more piece of information, just to give you a perspective of the situation here. That steward is also a lead officer for the TSA, and he was telling me that normally, he has 18 screeners under his supervision. In the last few days, there have been days when he only has two.

And now here back behind me, there are a total of 18 lanes, but only two are open today, which explains the lines and people having to wait as long as four hours, Fred.

Now back to you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. You're painting a great picture for everyone to understand just why those lines are as long as they are.

All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much in Atlanta.

Let's go to Newark International Airport there where we find Gloria Pazmino. So Gloria, TSA lines, are they shorter today in the weekend or is it growing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, you can see that the situation with the TSA wait lines just really varies dramatically depending on which airport you're traveling out of.

This is our second day here at Newark Airport, and the lines have not been that long. In fact, the wait time right now is under ten minutes. And that wait time kind of shifts dramatically depending on the time of day.

Today is Sunday, of course. A lot of people traveling back to home or traveling to their destinations today. So we have seen an uptick throughout the day. But the line has been moving quickly.

Now, passengers who are arriving here at Newark International have told me they are very much aware of the possibility that they might have to wait in line for a long time. So people have come prepared.

I spoke to one woman who told me she showed up four hours before her scheduled flight. And others who have come in and just been relieved that the lines are not that long. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think anybody that can come and help is a good thing. If they're getting paid, we should probably put them to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's really frustrating and a really bad time to have this kind of shutdown, especially with the war going on, where we need -- we really need security to be at an all-time high.

And now we have to worry about TSA not showing up to work and not having the proper security that we actually need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: We also asked some of those passengers what they thought about President Trump's proposal, his plan to send ICE officers into the airports to help the staffing gap that airports are experiencing right now.

Some of them told me that as long as it's going to make things move quicker, they are ok with it. There were others who were not so happy to hear about that plan, pointing out the actions of ICE officers in the past. So as we heard earlier, that plan still, we need to learn a lot about

the details where these officers are going to be. But passengers really focused on making sure that they can move through these lines quickly.

And officers, TSA officers are still very much caught in the middle here. More than 400 officers have quit, according to the Department of Homeland Security. And their absentee rate is still hovering around 9 percent as this shutdown continues, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

All right. Straight ahead, the latest on the search for Nancy Guthrie. A new plea from her family for clues that may be in someone's camera footage. And what investigators are still trying to pin down.

[14:28:12]

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[14:32:28]

WHITFIELD: "Today Show" host Savannah Guthrie is pleading with the Arizona community for renewed help in the search for her missing mother, Nancy. In a heartfelt statement, the family is desperately asking for people to consult camera footage, journal notes, text messages, observations or conversations that in retrospect may hold significance.

Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home seven weeks ago. The family has offered a million dollar reward for information leading to their mother's recovery.

I want to bring in now, retired FBI supervisory special agent, Jason Pack, to get more perspective on this.

Good to see you, Jason.

So this latest message was released through a local news station targeted directly to the people living in the Tucson area and Southern Arizona community as a whole. What does this signal to you?

JASON PACK, FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT (RET.): Good afternoon Fredricka. It signals that it's a pretty strategic and surgical message. She has the ability to go on NBC, go on national news, all these streaming platforms. But yet through KVOA there in Tucson, they chose to put this strategic message out to her neighbors, people who are in her community and people that they think really may not have actually taken a look at their camera yet.

So I think this message is intended to do two things. One is to get the story back in the news cycle again. With the war in Iran and with all the attacks in the United States and all the other things that have been going on, the Final Four and the NCAA tournament, all these things have taken up air space. And so this message strategically, strategically placed, hopefully will generate some more tips. Also, Fred, I think that investigators there should go recanvass that

neighborhood if they've not already, because what looks like nothing to some resident may be of interest to investigators when a resident would look at the Ring camera and say, I really don't see anything here, its better to let the investigators and the agents look at that just to make sure, because they may know some other details that may not be prudent or relevant to the neighbors there who have this video.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. So lets review some of those things that they're talking about that may be irrelevant seemingly to a lot of folks, but you know, they want folks to zero in on because in this message, the family is asking for people to review their security camera footage, journal entries and text messages.

From an investigative standpoint, you know, how would these be tools, I guess, for investigators to say, oh, lets look at this a little differently, or let's revisit this particular area or somebody's recollection of something?

[14:35:03]

PACK: I think they're really concentrating on that January date where they may have seen someone in the area surveilling the premises of Ms. Guthrie there. So I think that is a key date. They keep coming back to. They've not said that publicly, but in some of these messages, we've seen those particular dates.

So I think a text message like, you know, when something's going on in your neighborhood, you'll text your neighbors, hey, did you see this? Or what about this person? Is this person working at your house?

Those types of things, I think are what they're talking about with the text messages, and they're hoping it'll be a memory prompt. Also, sometimes people will say they've looked at it and just don't want to get involved.

So hopefully, that's not the case here. And that's why you see you've seen agents and Pima County sheriffs deputies going back to these neighborhood homes three and four times to make sure that they've talked to everybody. And B, if there is any kind of video there, they've collected it for themselves and not just taking the word of the neighbors. There may be well intentioned, but they may not see anything that they thought was prudent or pertinent to the case.

WHITFIELD: This really has been an extraordinary amount of time. I mean, is this a, you know, stunning, shocking to you?

PACK: Each of these cases, Fred, have their own set of circumstances and they all have different DNA, as what I call it. They have different things like search warrants that they've served and they're waiting on those returns. There are months and months of data to go through there. So the work, even though you're not hearing anything about it publicly, which is a frustration among some people, that doesn't mean that the work is not going on behind the scenes.

And I think the FBI and the Pima County sheriff's office continue to work. Hopefully, the tip will come, like this message Savannah and her family sent out will prompt somebody to say yes. Okay, I haven't looked at it. Come and take a look at it. I think that's what they're trying to do here and hopefully that's the case.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. All right. Our hearts continue to break for them. Jason Pack, thank you so much.

PACK: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, hours long lines to go through security at the airport, has some fliers worried about catching their next flight. Straight ahead, things you can do to try and ensure that you get through TSA in time and catch that flight, or perhaps another one.

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[14:41:53]

WHITFIELD: All right. Returning to another one of our top stories this hour, ICE agents will be working at airports across the country beginning tomorrow. President Trump says he ordered the move in response to the long lines at airports.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said today that progress was being made in funding talks over the Department of Homeland Security, but no agreement has been reached at this time.

All right. With us now is Sean Cudahy. He is the senior aviation reporter for "The Points Guy".

Good to see you, Sean.

So this is an opportunity for you to give some folks some tips, because if you're a traveler and you're heading to the airport, you know, and perhaps this evening or tomorrow, the line is even longer than you expected, is there anything a traveler can do to kind of help their situation?

SEAN CUDAHY, SENIOR AVIATION REPORTER, THE POINTS GUY: Yeah, a few things you can do. First of all, I mean, obviously, you want to get there early, earlier than you normally would be. The big question is how early. There's a few ways you can try to get a sense of that.

Go to your airports website, go to their social media feeds, get a sense for whether your airport on this particular day is one of the airports that are just, you know, hit by these really long lines. It's kind of been hit or miss. It's been, you know, more miss than hit recently at a lot of big hubs. But, you know, that should kind of give you a sense.

Also, once you get to the airport, if you're seeing a really long line at the checkpoint, go up to one of the volunteers that works at the airport, not TSA, one of the actual airport employees, and ask them if there's like a hidden secret checkpoint that you can go to. Sometimes if you go down a level, if you walk away, you might have to walk a long way actually. But that can kind of you have checkpoints, have a much shorter line.

WHITFIELD: Okay. And then, you know, say you did start out really early. You get there. The lines enormous. It's moving slow.

How do you utilize your time while in line? Does it make sense to call your airline? You know, say you don't see that volunteer that you were just talking about, you know, or should you be going on your, you know, the airline app or something because phones are likely jammed? I mean, are there any real options there?

CUDAHY: If you're standing in line and you are just seeing, oh my gosh, I think I'm going to miss my flight. Yeah, I would definitely go to your airlines app. See if you, if you have a ticket that allows you to make changes, maybe there's a flight an hour later, maybe there's, you know, just a different itinerary that you can get, you know, its kind of hit or miss. On whether the airline will be, you know, sympathetic if you miss your flight because they again, are telling people to get there early.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. Okay, now, let's get on the front end of it all. You know, the psychology of, you know, booking a flight used to be, you know, try and get among the first flights out, you know, so that they're -- they're the more likely on time kind of takeoffs. But were finding out and heard from travelers this week who had 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. flights. They were showing up at the airports at 3:00 a.m., and that still was not early enough.

So what are your, you know, secrets to the best times of day when we're in this kind of crisis of booking your flights?

CUDAHY: Normally, we are talking about taking the first flight out in the morning because that's when flight delays are less likely to happen. But when it comes to security, those morning hours can actually be some of the busiest.

[14:45:06]

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays -- flying in the middle of the day or maybe really late at night, those can be some of the best times when the lines are the shortest.

WHITFIELD: At least for now. Now that you've given everybody the advice, they might be long again, too.

All right. But we appreciate the tips. Sean Cudahy, thank you so much.

CUDAHY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, President Trump says Iran has just a day to open up the strait of Hormuz or its power plants will be targeted. How Iran plans to fight back, if that indeed happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:15] WHITFIELD: All right. New today, bipartisan outrage after President Trump's stunning reaction to the death of former FBI director and special counsel Robert Mueller. Just minutes after Mueller's passing was announced, Trump wrote on social media, in his words, "Good. I'm glad he's dead."

Here's how that post is playing on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I think that that's a -- that's a sad statement about where we are in our political discourse, to be honest with you, I don't celebrate any death, and I certainly don't celebrate the death of somebody who you could disagree maybe on -- on certain matters.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): So disappointed by the tone the president is taking. We basically celebrates his death. I guess I shouldn't be shocked anymore, but it still seems shocking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Earlier, a member of the president's cabinet was asked about the post on Mueller, who investigated Trump for alleged ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Listen to how Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Is it appropriate for the president to celebrate the death of any American citizen, Mr. Secretary?

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Again, I think that given what has been done to President Trump and his family, it is impossible for either of us to understand what he has been through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. The new CNN original series "Standoff: The FBI, Power and Paranoia" explores the complex relationship between FBI directors and the presidents they serve.

CNN's Josh Campbell worked for three FBI directors, including Robert Mueller, and he has an inside look at that complicated partnership between the Oval Office and the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Thanks to your brave leadership and the mandate you were given by the American people, not only to defend the homeland, but crush violent crime.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a new era at the FBI.

PATEL: We are thankful for the president Trump's steadfast leadership. And this FBI will fearlessly follow in his footsteps.

CAMBPELL (voice-over): One of the nation's premier law enforcement agencies, which once prided itself on strict independence from politicians now taking shape as a political arm of the president. Director Kash Patel often mirroring Donald Trump's own style with the president's perceived political enemies.

(CROSSTALK)

PATEL: What I am doing is protecting this country and combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you --

CAMBPELL (voice-over): But the history of the bureau has been marked by frequent clashes with the White House. That intense conflict is a topic of a new CNN original series documentary exploring the fragile and high risk relationship between FBI directors past and the presidents they served, as the FBI's quest for independence was pushed to the brink.

JIM COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: It was never going to work between us.

STEVE CORTES, 2016 TRUMP CAMPAIGN MEDIA SPOKESMAN: The president did not trust him.

COMEY: Donald Trump wanted an FBI director who he could count on in the political sense.

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: You have two men who have radically different visions, engaged in a standoff over who is the FBI beholden to.

CORTES: James Comey's announcement, it absolutely hurt the Trump campaign, and I believe it was intended to.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's a major development here this evening at the White House, the president of the United States has terminated the director of the FBI, James Comey.

COMEY: It felt otherworldly.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is just the beginning of a complete change in everything that's going on. I mean, it is seismic.

COMEY: Numbness, confusion, because I really had not expected to be fired.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a great honor for me to fire -- I will tell you this, a great honor to fire James Comey.

COMEY: I often joke I'm the relationship that Trump can't get over.

LERONE A. MARTIN, PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: To understand the FBI and really to understand the 20th century, American democracy, you have to understand J. Edgar Hoover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hoover started keeping tabs on anyone he didn't like, and he didn't like a lot of people.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: He was cunning, right? Tactical, terrorizing, vindictive, secretive, closed off. Yeah. He was a tough customer. I'm glad I didn't have to work for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louis Freeh had the guideposts of faith and family, and Bill Clinton had the guideposts of position and power.

LOUIS FREEH, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: We're conducting a criminal investigation of the president of the United States. I hadn't even unpacked my materials yet.

RIGUEUR: Bill Clinton comes to hate his director of the FBI, and the feeling is mutual.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Outside of current issues involving national security concerns that the president of the United States should have little or nothing to do with the FBI.

MCCABE: The FBI has a lot of power and put to the wrong ends. Those capabilities can be devastating.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:59:44]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: Hello again everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Tomorrow is poised to be a consequential day as President Trump issued an ultimatum to Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and declares ICE agents will begin reinforcing security at U.S. Airports.

Let's begin with Iran.